1
|
Storm JF, Klink PC, Aru J, Senn W, Goebel R, Pigorini A, Avanzini P, Vanduffel W, Roelfsema PR, Massimini M, Larkum ME, Pennartz CMA. An integrative, multiscale view on neural theories of consciousness. Neuron 2024; 112:1531-1552. [PMID: 38447578 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2023] [Revised: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
How is conscious experience related to material brain processes? A variety of theories aiming to answer this age-old question have emerged from the recent surge in consciousness research, and some are now hotly debated. Although most researchers have so far focused on the development and validation of their preferred theory in relative isolation, this article, written by a group of scientists representing different theories, takes an alternative approach. Noting that various theories often try to explain different aspects or mechanistic levels of consciousness, we argue that the theories do not necessarily contradict each other. Instead, several of them may converge on fundamental neuronal mechanisms and be partly compatible and complementary, so that multiple theories can simultaneously contribute to our understanding. Here, we consider unifying, integration-oriented approaches that have so far been largely neglected, seeking to combine valuable elements from various theories.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Johan F Storm
- The Brain Signaling Group, Division of Physiology, IMB, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Domus Medica, Sognsvannsveien 9, Blindern, 0317 Oslo, Norway.
| | - P Christiaan Klink
- Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands; Laboratory of Visual Brain Therapy, Sorbonne Université, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de la Vision, Paris 75012, France
| | - Jaan Aru
- Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Walter Senn
- Department of Physiology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Rainer Goebel
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6229 EV Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Andrea Pigorini
- Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan 20122, Italy
| | - Pietro Avanzini
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 43125 Parma, Italy
| | - Wim Vanduffel
- Department of Neurosciences, Laboratory of Neuro and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven Medical School, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02144, USA
| | - Pieter R Roelfsema
- Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Laboratory of Visual Brain Therapy, Sorbonne Université, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de la Vision, Paris 75012, France; Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, VU University, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurosurgery, Academisch Medisch Centrum, Postbus 22660, 1100 DD Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Marcello Massimini
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences "L. Sacco", Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan 20157, Italy; Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, Milan 20122, Italy; Azrieli Program in Brain, Mind and Consciousness, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
| | - Matthew E Larkum
- Institute of Biology, Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Neurocure Center for Excellence, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Cyriel M A Pennartz
- Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, Center for Neuroscience, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Sciencepark 904, Amsterdam 1098 XH, the Netherlands; Research Priority Program Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Fossataro C, Noel JP, Bruno V. Editorial: The bodily self in the multisensory world. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1418014. [PMID: 38779447 PMCID: PMC11109373 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1418014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jean-Paul Noel
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Valentina Bruno
- Manibus Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Montoya S, Badde S. Only visible flicker helps flutter: Tactile-visual integration breaks in the absence of visual awareness. Cognition 2023; 238:105528. [PMID: 37354787 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2023] [Revised: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/26/2023]
Abstract
Combining information from multiple senses enhances our perception of the world. Whether we need to be aware of all stimuli to benefit from multisensory integration, however, is still under investigation. Here, we tested whether tactile frequency perception benefits from the presence of congruent visual flicker even if the flicker is so rapid that it is perceptually fused into a steady light and therefore invisible. Our participants completed a tactile frequency discrimination task given either unisensory tactile or congruent tactile-visual stimulation. Tactile and tactile-visual test frequencies ranged from far below to far above participants' flicker fusion threshold (determined separately). For frequencies distinctively below their flicker fusion threshold, participants performed significantly better given tactile-visual stimulation than when presented with only tactile stimuli. Yet, for frequencies above their flicker fusion threshold, participants' tactile frequency perception did not profit from the presence of congruent but likely fused and thus invisible visual flicker. The results matched the predictions of an ideal-observer model in which tactile-visual integration is conditional on awareness of both stimuli. In contrast, it was impossible to reproduce the observed results with a model that assumed tactile-visual integration proceeds irrespective of stimulus awareness. In sum, we revealed that the benefits of congruent visual stimulation for tactile flutter frequency perception depend on the visibility of the visual flicker, suggesting that multisensory integration requires awareness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Montoya
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Avenue, 02155 Medford, MA, USA
| | - Stephanie Badde
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Avenue, 02155 Medford, MA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Hand Ownership Is Altered in Teenagers with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy. J Clin Med 2022; 11:jcm11164869. [PMID: 36013105 PMCID: PMC9409779 DOI: 10.3390/jcm11164869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Revised: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 08/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
We explored hand ownership in teenagers with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) compared with typically developing teenagers. Eighteen participants with UCP and 16 control teenagers participated. We used the rubber hand illusion to test hand ownership (HO). Both affected/non-affected hands (UCP) and dominant/non-dominant hands (controls) were tested during synchronous and asynchronous strokes. HO was assessed by measuring the proprioceptive drift toward the fake hand (as a percentage of arm length) and conducting a questionnaire on subjective HO. Both groups had significantly higher proprioceptive drift in the synchronous stroking condition for both hands. Teenagers with UCP showed a significantly higher proprioceptive drift when comparing their paretic hand (median 3.4% arm length) with the non-dominant hand of the controls (median 1.7% arm length). The questionnaires showed that synchronous versus asynchronous stroking generated a robust change in subjective HO in the control teenagers, but not in the teenagers with UCP. Teenagers with UCP have an altered sense of HO and a distorted subjective experience of HO that may arise from the early dysfunction of complex sensory–motor integration related to their brain lesions. HO may influence motor impairment and prove to be a target for early intervention.
Collapse
|
5
|
Del Vecchio M, De Marco D, Pigorini A, Fossataro C, Cassisi A, Avanzini P. Vision of haptics tunes the somatosensory threshold. Neurosci Lett 2022; 787:136823. [PMID: 35914589 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2022.136823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Revised: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The interaction between different sensory modalities represents a crucial issue in the neuroscience of consciousness: when the processing of one modality is deficient, the concomitant presentation of stimuli of other spared modalities may sustain the restoring of the damaged sensory functions. In this regard, visual enhancement of touch may represent a viable tool in the rehabilitation from tactile disorders, yet the specific visual features mostly modulating the somatosensory experience remain unsettled. In this study, healthy subjects underwent a tactile detection task during the observation of videos displaying different contents, including static gratings, meaningless motions, natural or point-lights reach-to-grasp-and-manipulate actions. Concurrently, near-threshold stimuli were delivered to the median nerve at different time-points. Subjective report was collected after each trial; the sensory detection rate was computed and compared across video conditions. Our results indicate that the specific presence of haptic contents (i.e., vision of manipulation), either fully displayed or implied by point-lights, magnifies tactile sensitivity. The notion that such stimuli prompt an aware tactile experience opens to novel rehabilitation approaches for tactile consciousness disorders.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Del Vecchio
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Parma 43125, Italy.
| | - Doriana De Marco
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Parma 43125, Italy
| | - Andrea Pigorini
- University of Milan, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche "L. Sacco", Milano 20157, Italy
| | - Carlotta Fossataro
- MANIBUS Laboratory, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Torino, Torino 10124, Italy
| | - Annalisa Cassisi
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Parma 43125, Italy; University of Parma, Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale, Parma 43124,Italy
| | - Pietro Avanzini
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Parma 43125, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Candini M, Fossataro C, Pia L, Vezzadini G, Gindri P, Galigani M, Berti A, Frassinetti F, Garbarini F. Bodily self‐recognition in patients with pathological embodiment. J Neurosci Res 2022; 100:1987-2003. [PMID: 35869668 PMCID: PMC9544620 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.25109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michela Candini
- BOOST PERCEPTION Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Bologna Bologna Italy
- Maugeri Clinical Scientific Institutes IRCCS of Castel Goffredo Mantova Italy
| | - Carlotta Fossataro
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
- SAMBA Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
| | - Lorenzo Pia
- SAMBA Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT) University of Turin Turin Italy
| | - Giuliana Vezzadini
- Maugeri Clinical Scientific Institutes IRCCS of Castel Goffredo Mantova Italy
| | | | - Mattia Galigani
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
| | - Anna Berti
- SAMBA Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT) University of Turin Turin Italy
| | - Francesca Frassinetti
- BOOST PERCEPTION Research Group, Department of Psychology University of Bologna Bologna Italy
- Maugeri Clinical Scientific Institutes IRCCS of Castel Goffredo Mantova Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology University of Turin Turin Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT) University of Turin Turin Italy
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Bassolino M, Franza M, Guanziroli E, Sorrentino G, Canzoneri E, Colombo M, Crema A, Bertoni T, Mastria G, Vissani M, Sokolov AA, Micera S, Molteni F, Blanke O, Serino A. Body and peripersonal space representations in chronic stroke patients with upper limb motor deficits. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac179. [PMID: 35950092 PMCID: PMC9356734 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Revised: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
The continuous stream of multisensory information between the brain and the body during body–environment interactions is crucial to maintain the updated representation of the perceived dimensions of body parts (metric body representation) and the space around the body (the peripersonal space). Such flow of multisensory signals is often limited by upper limb sensorimotor deficits after stroke. This would suggest the presence of systematic distortions of metric body representation and peripersonal space in chronic patients with persistent sensorimotor deficits. We assessed metric body representation and peripersonal space representation in 60 chronic stroke patients with unilateral upper limb motor deficits, in comparison with age-matched healthy controls. We also administered a questionnaire capturing explicit feelings towards the affected limb. These novel measures were analysed with respect to patients’ clinical profiles and brain lesions to investigate the neural and functional origin of putative deficits. Stroke patients showed distortions in metric body representation of the affected limb, characterized by an underestimation of the arm length and an alteration of the arm global shape. A descriptive lesion analysis (subtraction analysis) suggests that these distortions may be more frequently associated with lesions involving the superior corona radiata and the superior frontal gyrus. Peripersonal space representation was also altered, with reduced multisensory facilitation for stimuli presented around the affected limb. These deficits were more common in patients reporting pain during motion. Explorative lesion analyses (subtraction analysis, disconnection maps) suggest that the peripersonal space distortions would be more frequently associated with lesions involving the parietal operculum and white matter frontoparietal connections. Moreover, patients reported altered feelings towards the affected limb, which were associated with right brain damage, proprioceptive deficits and a lower cognitive profile. These results reveal implicit and explicit distortions involving metric body representation, peripersonal space representation and the perception of the affected limb in chronic stroke patients. These findings might have important clinical implications for the longitudinal monitoring and the treatments of often-neglected deficits in body perception and representation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michela Bassolino
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) , Geneva 1202 , Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), MySpace Lab , Lausanne 1011 , Switzerland
- Institute of Health, School of Health Sciences, HES-SO Valais-Wallis , Sion 1950 , Switzerland
| | - Matteo Franza
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) , Geneva 1202 , Switzerland
| | - Eleonora Guanziroli
- Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Center, Valduce Hospital Como , Costa Masnaga 23845 , Italy
| | - Giuliana Sorrentino
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) , Geneva 1202 , Switzerland
| | - Elisa Canzoneri
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) , Geneva 1202 , Switzerland
| | - Maria Colombo
- Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Center, Valduce Hospital Como , Costa Masnaga 23845 , Italy
| | - Andrea Crema
- Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Translational Neuroengineering, Centre for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) , Geneva 1202 , Switzerland
- AGO Neurotechnologies, Sàrl , Geneva 1201 , Switzerland
| | - Tommaso Bertoni
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), MySpace Lab , Lausanne 1011 , Switzerland
| | - Giulio Mastria
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), MySpace Lab , Lausanne 1011 , Switzerland
| | - Matteo Vissani
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) , Geneva 1202 , Switzerland
- The Biorobotics Institute and Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna , Pontedera, Pisa 56025 , Italy
| | - Arseny A Sokolov
- The Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London , London WC1N 3BG , UK
- Service de Neurologie, Département des Neurosciences Cliniques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) , Lausanne 1011 , Switzerland
| | - Silvestro Micera
- Bertarelli Foundation Chair in Translational Neuroengineering, Centre for Neuroprosthetics and Institute of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) , Geneva 1202 , Switzerland
- The Biorobotics Institute and Department of Excellence in Robotics and AI, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna , Pontedera, Pisa 56025 , Italy
| | - Franco Molteni
- Villa Beretta Rehabilitation Center, Valduce Hospital Como , Costa Masnaga 23845 , Italy
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) , Geneva 1202 , Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva Medical School , Geneva 1211 , Switzerland
| | - Andrea Serino
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, School of Life Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) , Geneva 1202 , Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), MySpace Lab , Lausanne 1011 , Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Errante A, Rossi Sebastiano A, Ziccarelli S, Bruno V, Rozzi S, Pia L, Fogassi L, Garbarini F. Structural connectivity associated with the sense of body ownership: a diffusion tensor imaging and disconnection study in patients with bodily awareness disorder. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac032. [PMID: 35233523 PMCID: PMC8882004 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Revised: 12/25/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The brain mechanisms underlying the emergence of a normal sense of body ownership can be investigated starting from pathological conditions in which body awareness is selectively impaired. Here, we focused on pathological embodiment, a body ownership disturbance observed in brain-damaged patients who misidentify other people’s limbs as their own. We investigated whether such body ownership disturbance can be classified as a disconnection syndrome, using three different approaches based on diffusion tensor imaging: (i) reconstruction of disconnectome maps in a large sample (N = 70) of stroke patients with and without pathological embodiment; (ii) probabilistic tractography, performed on the age-matched healthy controls (N = 16), to trace cortical connections potentially interrupted in patients with pathological embodiment and spared in patients without this pathological condition; (iii) probabilistic ‘in vivo’ tractography on two patients without and one patient with pathological embodiment. The converging results revealed the arcuate fasciculus and the third branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus as mainly involved fibre tracts in patients showing pathological embodiment, suggesting that this condition could be related to the disconnection between frontal, parietal and temporal areas. This evidence raises the possibility of a ventral self-body recognition route including regions where visual (computed in occipito-temporal areas) and sensorimotor (stored in premotor and parietal areas) body representations are integrated, giving rise to a normal sense of body ownership.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Antonino Errante
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, 43125, Italy
| | | | - Settimio Ziccarelli
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, 43125, Italy
| | - Valentina Bruno
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10123, Italy
| | - Stefano Rozzi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, 43125, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Pia
- SAMBA Research Group, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10123, Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT), Turin 10123, Italy
| | - Leonardo Fogassi
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, 43125, Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS Lab, Psychology Department, University of Turin, Turin 10123, Italy
- Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT), Turin 10123, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Del Vecchio M, Fossataro C, Zauli FM, Sartori I, Pigorini A, d'Orio P, Abarrategui B, Russo S, Mikulan EP, Caruana F, Rizzolatti G, Garbarini F, Avanzini P. Tonic somatosensory responses and deficits of tactile awareness converge in the parietal operculum. Brain 2021; 144:3779-3787. [PMID: 34633436 PMCID: PMC8719842 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awab384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2021] [Revised: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 09/18/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Although clinical neuroscience and the neuroscience of consciousness have long sought mechanistic explanations of tactile-awareness disorders, mechanistic insights are rare, mainly because of the difficulty of depicting the fine-grained neural dynamics underlying somatosensory processes. Here, we combined the stereo-EEG responses to somatosensory stimulation with the lesion mapping of patients with a tactile-awareness disorder, namely tactile extinction. Whereas stereo-EEG responses present different temporal patterns, including early/phasic and long-lasting/tonic activities, tactile-extinction lesion mapping co-localizes only with the latter. Overlaps are limited to the posterior part of the perisylvian regions, suggesting that tonic activities may play a role in sustaining tactile awareness. To assess this hypothesis further, we correlated the prevalence of tonic responses with the tactile-extinction lesion mapping, showing that they follow the same topographical gradient. Finally, in parallel with the notion that visuotactile stimulation improves detection in tactile-extinction patients, we demonstrated an enhancement of tonic responses to visuotactile stimuli, with a strong voxel-wise correlation with the lesion mapping. The combination of these results establishes tonic responses in the parietal operculum as the ideal neural correlate of tactile awareness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Del Vecchio
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 43125 Parma, Italy
| | - Carlotta Fossataro
- MANIBUS Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy
| | - Flavia Maria Zauli
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche 'L. Sacco,' Università degli Studi di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
| | - Ivana Sartori
- Centro per la Chirurgia dell'Epilessia 'Claudio Munari,' Ospedale Ca' Granda-Niguarda, 20162 Milano, Italy
| | - Andrea Pigorini
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche 'L. Sacco,' Università degli Studi di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
| | - Piergiorgio d'Orio
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 43125 Parma, Italy.,Centro per la Chirurgia dell'Epilessia 'Claudio Munari,' Ospedale Ca' Granda-Niguarda, 20162 Milano, Italy
| | - Belen Abarrategui
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche 'L. Sacco,' Università degli Studi di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
| | - Simone Russo
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche 'L. Sacco,' Università degli Studi di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
| | - Ezequiel Pablo Mikulan
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche 'L. Sacco,' Università degli Studi di Milano, 20157 Milano, Italy
| | - Fausto Caruana
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 43125 Parma, Italy
| | - Giacomo Rizzolatti
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 43125 Parma, Italy.,Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Parma, 43125 Parma, Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, 10124 Turin, Italy.,Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT), 10124 Turin, Italy
| | - Pietro Avanzini
- Istituto di Neuroscienze, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, 43125 Parma, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Rossi Sebastiano A, Bruno V, Ronga I, Fossataro C, Galigani M, Neppi-Modona M, Garbarini F. Diametrical modulation of tactile and visual perceptual thresholds during the rubber hand illusion: a predictive coding account. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 86:1830-1846. [PMID: 34773491 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01608-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
During the rubber hand illusion (RHI), the synchronous stroking of the participants' concealed hand and a visible rubber hand induces a conflict among visuo-tactile inputs, leading healthy subjects to perceive the illusion of being touched on the rubber hand, as if it were part of their body. The predictive coding theory suggests that the RHI emerges to settle the conflict, attenuating somatosensory inputs in favour of visual ones, which "capture" tactile sensations. Here, we employed the psychophysical measure of perceptual threshold to measure a behavioural correlate of the somatosensory and visual modulations, to better understand the mechanisms underpinning the illusion. Before and after the RHI, participants underwent a tactile (Experiment 1) and a visual (Experiment 2) task, wherein they had to detect stimuli slightly above the perceptual threshold. According to the predictive coding framework, we found a significant decrease of tactile detection (i.e. increased tactile perceptual threshold) and a significant increase of visual detection (i.e. decreased visual perceptual threshold), suggesting a diametrical modulation of somatosensory and visual perceptual processes. These findings provide evidence of how our system plastically adapts to uncertainty, attributing different weights to sensory inputs to restore a coherent representation of the own body.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alice Rossi Sebastiano
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Valentina Bruno
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Irene Ronga
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Carlotta Fossataro
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Mattia Galigani
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Marco Neppi-Modona
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Via Verdi 10, 10124, Turin, Italy. .,NIT, Neuroscience Institute of Turin, Turin, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Garbarini F, Fossataro C, Pia L, Berti A. What pathological embodiment/disembodiment tell us about body representations. Neuropsychologia 2020; 149:107666. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2020] [Revised: 08/11/2020] [Accepted: 10/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
|
12
|
The anatomo-clinical picture of the pathological embodiment over someone else's body part after stroke. Cortex 2020; 130:203-219. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Revised: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 05/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
|